Beware fake memory cards

If it sounds too good to be true, maybe it is
Counterfeiting is a huge business. Handbags we know about. Car parts, maybe. But flash memory cards? It's true.

Flash is a brutally competitive business
Real flash cards - Compact Flash (CF), SD and the rest - are a great deal. Flash memory maufacturing plants cost billions and should be run at near full capacity for maximum efficiency. But flash product demand peaks around Christmas - all those cameras, MP3 players and cellphones - meaning a lot of flash product gets shipped at below full cost.

Translation: we get very good deals on real flash memory cards.

Counterfeits don't give you what you paid for
The cost of the flash chip is about a quarter of the retail price. Packaging, shipping and margin account for the rest. That doesn't leave counterfeiters much margin to cut costs. So they cut out the flash quantity and/or quality.

Flash chips are programmable devices, so small flash chips can be programmed to report that they are large flash chips. Or slow flash chips substituted for the high-speed chip you thought you were buying.

They also cut corners on printing, plastic molding, packaging and card cases.

Avoid being gypped
Ebay sellers have been a major outlet for counterfeits. An Ebay user has published a guide to the counterfeits to help buyers identify counterfeits - see FAKE SanDisk Ultra Compact Flash Cards Exposed - but scammers don't like to give refunds.

Your best bet is to avoid counterfeits in the first place.

Buy from established commercial vendors. Some scammers have had excellent Ebay ratings, because most folks can't tell a real card from a fake before they rate the seller.

Check out pricing on sites like DealRam or Google Products (3 star sellers and above only!) to find current prices.

If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The Storage Bits take
The plummeting price of flash make flash a great deal. Avoiding counterfeits make it an even better deal.